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OPP Issue Warning for Teens on Dangers of Irresponsible Texting

Long Term Danger of Damage to Reputation and Identity

ORILLIA, ON, Feb. 28, 2012 /CNW/ - Once it's out there, you can't get it
back. That's the message the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) is
putting out to teens across the province. A mistaken belief that their
texted messages and images shared among peers will remain private and
secure puts them in real danger of becoming victims of their own words
and actions.

Teens frequently engage in relationships with peers through the use of
their mobile devices and computers that lead to "self-peer
exploitation" (also known as sexting). As a result of misbelieving
that they can remain anonymous, they often also engage in this type of
behaviour with individuals whom they don't know but have only ever met
online.

Teens need to become aware that this kind of risky activity has very
real dangers associated with it that include many unintended
consequences and permanent long term threats to their identity and
their reputations.

Every day, thousands of teens are photographing and videotaping
themselves in suggestive and compromising photos and sending the images
through electronic devices to their peers. Quite often, this type of
conduct can quickly become a dangerous game as those images never stay
with the one intended to receive them. Instead they are frequently
mindlessly passed along by the recipient to friends, who pass them on
to other friends who continue this cycle of distribution while some
post them to social networking sites, and download them onto the
internet.

The resulting shame and embarrassment that is experienced by the teen
that is now a victim of their own actions as a result of their
realization of what has occurred can have very tragic results.

Officers are increasingly seeing more teens that are unable to cope with
the self-inflicted personal shame and embarrassment that they have
unknowingly created from what they had previously believed to be
"harmless fun".

There is also a real criminal risk for those individuals who receive
these images and re-distribute them. Often unknowingly, by sending the
images to others and posting them, these individuals are engaging in
the distribution of child pornography and could face criminal charges.

Parents, guardians and educators need to learn more about this serious
social issue. They should recognize the significance of this problem,
discuss it with their teens and monitor their social media activities.
Reminding teens about the short and long term consequences of their
social media behaviours will have a positive impact on this public
safety risk.

Inspector Scott Naylor, Manager of the OPP Child Sexual Exploitation
Unit says, "Self-peer exploitation has become a big social issue that
no one has been adequately prepared to manage. Those with a vested
interest in the protection of children need to get involved and learn
how to protect them from permanently damaging their lives. Understand
what self-peer exploitation is, and find out what to do about it. There
are ways to intervene."